Mom forces 14-year-old son to pay for family pizza after he eats everyone's food: 'My son's reasoning is that he doesn't work'

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 27, 2024 11:00 AM EST

This mom isn't 100% sure that she's doing the right thing here. After her son ate an inordinate amount of pizza, she turned to the internet to steer her in the right direction.

It's not easy to raise teenagers, and this mom is raising two! She has a 14-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter. However, she's been having a bit of difficulty navigating life with her son, who has high-functioning ASD. This means that he has issues with "certain aspects of his relationships such as thinking about others, compassion, etc." So how should she teach her son about life's consequences? Well, that's what she's asking r/AmItheA****** after an incident involving a pizza and a very hungry teenager. 

Commenters insisted that she didn't do anything wrong here. She basically just let the consequences play out after warning her son to save food for others. And it's not as if her son is going to starve if he doesn't eat pizza: there's plenty of food laying around that he could've snacked on instead. At least her son is still quite young, and as commenters suggested, maybe her son just needs even more people around him to help him adjust. 

After that, read about the ridiculous requests that hotel guests had, like one guest who "demanded a room upgrade because 'their aura didn't vibe' with the one they booked." 

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    Cheezburger Image 10433430016
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    AITA For making my son pay for a new pizza when he didn't save any for the rest of the family?
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 03
    I 45F, have two kids: 14M and 17F. My son has High Functioning ASD, and honestly most people cannot tell, but it comes out in certain aspects of his relationships such as thinking about others, compassion, etc. My son also eats a lot of food- way more than someone for his age. He is not overweight in any way so the doctors have not considered this a problem.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 04
    Here comes the problem- for years when we have ordered food, he has neglected to realize that the food we order is for the whole family, not just him. My husband and I have both spoken to him about this multiple times and usually he just gives half- hearted apologies. We are working on this with his therapist, among other issues he has.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 05
    On Friday, my daughter had work after school so she drove herself there while my son took the bus home. He said he was hungry so I ordered a pizza and told him to save some for his father and sister. I only took a slice. Usually my daughter does not eat much (1-2 slices) and same thing with my husband. That would've left him with 5 slices of a LARGE pizza. About 2 hours later, my
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 06
    daughter comes home and sees the pizza box empty and starts balling. She usually is not one to complain about food and will usually just make her own food but she did not have time to eat before work today and during lunch she was making up a test, so she did not eat since breakfast.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 07
    I was furious at my son and deducted the money for a new pizza plus a generous tip to the delivery driver from my son's bank account. My son saw and now he is p ed. My daughter thought it was the right thing to do, especially when this is about the 3rd time it had happened to her. My son's reasoning is that he doesn't work so his only sources of income are for his birthday and
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 08
    Christmas, so my daughter should've paid since she has a job. My husband and I both are on board with what I did, but idk, is my son right? AITA?
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 09
    *UPDATE: For everyone saying we are underfeeding him, we have tons of food in the house. The fridge is stocked, we have snacks, ingredients etc. My son refuses to learn how to cook, even when we have offered him
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 10
    cooking classes. Even without learning to cook, we have boxed pasta, popcorn, bread, vegetables and fruits, rice etc. all of which require no cooking ability. He simply chose to eat the whole pizza.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 11
    Little_Loki918 NTA. Having Autism is not an excuse for eating the entire dinner and leaving none for the rest of the family, even after being explicitly told not to do so. Having autism is also not a shield against the natural consequences of his actions. He ate the entire large pizza that was the
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 12
    entire family's dinner, and you had to order another one. It was only fair that he paid for it. In the future, perhaps it's best to affirmatively set aside the food for your husband and daughter and yourself (labeled so there can be no confusion) and then let him eat. Also, there are some diseases that either lead to extreme hunger or prevent the full cues from registering in your brain/body.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 13
    Kindly_Area_4... Regardless of his diagnosis, there should be consequences to his actions. How big was the pizza? Growing kids may have out of bounds metabolism. We have a pizza place that does personal pizzas. Maybe that's a better solution or a large for the family and a small that is his.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 14
    ieya404 I ordered a pizza and told him to save some for his father and sister. He knew he wasn't supposed to eat the whole thing - that's a very clear instruction to leave some (which would logically have to be at least two pieces since it's for two people).
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 15
    NTA. S ks for him in this particular instance, but maybe he'll pay more attention in future when he's told to leave some for other people.
    via u/Lanky-Cake7355
  • 16
    plsuh NTA My son's reasoning is that he doesn't work so his only sources of income are for his birthday and Christmas, so my daughter should've paid since she has a job.
    via u/plsuh
  • 17
    This is invalid reasoning. Neurodivergent or not, he can see that this leads to the conclusion that if you have no income it is ok to take what you want from someone who has an income which is theft. - My son does not have much money to begin with and he is neurodivergent which makes it difficult for
    via u/plsuh
  • 18
    him to consider others. When enough consequences hit him he will start to take others into consideration. Many neurodivergent people have difficulties in empathizing other people; fair enough. He may not get how his sister feels, but once he makes the connection that being an inconsiderate hog
    via u/plsuh
  • 19
    costs him real money he will get the picture. It is your job as his parent to set the boundaries and consequences so that he can understand right and wrong. Not enforcing a consequence that hurts leads to a failure to launch. He may need different ways to reason through things or alternative consequences;
    via u/plsuh
  • 20
    work with his care team to get it right. What you absolutely don't want to be is That Parent who is always excusing her child's behavior, "because he's neurodivergent."
    via u/plsuh
  • 21
    EffableFornent Nta This is a perfect natural consequence. If he was still hungry, he could have made himself some food, but he choose to eat everyone else's. He pays for that. Why on earth should his sister buy him dinner?
    via u/EffableFornent
  • 22
    It's not about him being autistic, as he clearly knows what the deal is... He's just a selfish teenager, and needs. to learn that being selfish has consequences.
    via u/EffableFornent
  • 23
    [deleted] NTA. At 14, ASD or not, he has to learn that actions have consequences. So, he thinks his sister should pay for his greediness. That's a big 'no'.
    via u/[deleted]

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family drama aita pizza mother parenting family eating daughter money son parents Father
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